CHAPTER IV
vestries
If it is difficult to put up with the single vestry of an eighteenth-century church, it is still more inconvenient to find oneself in an ordinary country church where in accordance with the ancient custom there is often no vestry at all.[1] At the present day our architects are more liberal, and I shall in this chapter assume the existence of the three vestries near the east end of the church, which are almost indispensable when there is a surpliced choir, and convenient when there is not. These will be the Priests’ Vestry or Sacristy, the Choir Vestry, and the Churchwardens’ Vestry. In addition to these a room where large articles can be stored will be found most useful.
The Churchwardens’ Vestry, the smallest of the three, is primarily for the transaction of church business. It will promote a decorous spirit, as well as save time and money, if the little things which this room should contain are kept in a fixed place, and not in loose cardboard boxes. Besides the two or three chairs there will be a knee-hole desk, on which lies the Service Register,[2] an ink-pot of the office type, with
- ↑ The practice in the average parish church of the middle ages was to keep the vestments in chests about the church. They were put on the altar before service, and the priest vested at the altar. This might still be done in some very small churches: but our modern habits are against it.
- ↑ Canon 52 orders the names of all strange preachers to be entered in a book kept for that purpose.
